Russia Under Western Eyes

A dazzling work of intellectual history by a world-renowned scholar, spanning the years from Peter the Great to the fall of the Soviet Union, this book gives us a clear and sweeping view of Russia not as an eternal barbarian menace but as an outermost, if laggard, member in the continuum of European nations.

Conrad reputedly wrote Under Western Eyes (1911) in response to Crime and Punishment, which he detested. The action takes place in Russia and Switzerland and shows Conrad's cynicism of revolutionary movements and ideals. It also condemns the impact on the poor and innocent by the actions of the powerful.

A psychological study of a young Russian student.

This carefully crafted ebook: "Under Western Eyes (Unabridged Deluxe Edition)" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Under Western Eyes (1911) is a political thriller which takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Geneva, Switzerland. Mr. de P—, the brutal Minister of State, is assassinated by a team of two, but the bombs used claim the lives of his footman, the first assassin and a number of bystanders. When student Razumov enters his rooms, he finds Victor Haldin, a fellow student who informs him that he was the one who murdered Mr. de P—, but he and his accomplice did not make a proper escape plan. He requests Razumov's help... Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), was a Polish author who wrote in English after settling in England. Conrad is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in English, though he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties. He wrote stories and novels, often with a nautical setting, that depict trials of the human spirit in the midst of an indifferent universe. He was a master prose stylist who brought a distinctly non-English tragic sensibility into English literature. Contents: Under Western Eyes Author's Notes on "Under Western Eyes" Memoirs & Letters: A Personal Record; or Some Reminiscences The Mirror of the Sea Notes on Life & Letters Biography & Critical Essays: Joseph Conrad (A Biography) by Hugh Walpole Joseph Conrad by John Albert Macy A Conrad Miscellany by John Albert Macy Joseph Conrad by Virginia Woolf

Reproduction of the original.

Under Western Eyes (1911) is a novel by Joseph Conrad. The novel takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia and Geneva, Switzerland and is viewed as Conrad's response to the themes explored in Crime and Punishment; Conrad was reputed to have detested Dostoevsky. It is also, some say, Conrad's response to his own early life; his father was a famous revolutionary imprisoned by the Russians, but, instead of following in his father's footsteps, at the age of sixteen Conrad left his native land, only to return briefly decades later.Indeed, while writing Under Western Eyes, Conrad suffered a weeks-long breakdown during which he conversed with the novel's characters in Polish.This novel is considered to be one of Conrad's major works and is close in subject matter to The Secret Agent. It is full of cynicism and conflict about the historical failures of revolutionary movements and ideals. Conrad remarks in this book, as well as others, on the irrationality of life, the opacity of character, the unfairness with which suffering is inflicted upon the innocent and poor and the careless disregard for the lives of those with whom we share existence.The book's first audience read it after the failed Russian Revolution of 1905. A second audience read it after the Russian Revolutions of 1917, which changed the reader's perception of the author's insight.